Applied Computing wants to give oil and gas operators an AI model for the entire plant | TechCrunch
Applied Computing, a London-based startup that’s building a foundation AI model for the oil, gas, and petrochemical industry, has raised a $20 million Series A led by engineering giant KBR, with Databricks Ventures participating.
Founded in 2023, the startup targets oil, gas, refining, and petrochemical systems, where a single facility can have thousands of sensors measuring everything from temperature and pressure to velocity and viscosity. While there’s a huge market for helping energy companies solve the data-tracking problem, the fragmentation presents a significant hurdle.
Facilities consequently make operating decisions using less than 8% of the data available to them, says Applied Computing’s co-founder and CEO Callum Adamson (pictured above, right). Operators already collect much of this information, he said, but they struggle to combine the sensor readings, engineering documentation, and physics and chemistry quickly enough to analyze and make predictions.
“It’s getting those three data sources to talk to each other in real time. That’s the real key,” he told TechCrunch.
Unlike large language models, which predict the next word, Applied Computing says its foundation model, Orbital, combines a time series model, a physics-based model, and a language model to predict the state of a facility. It does this by analyzing sensor readings, keeping physics and chemistry in mind, and recognizing a facility’s equipment constraints and operator activity. It also allows technicians to run simulations of how a change in one part of a facility could affect the rest of its operations.
Image Credits:Applied Computing
Essentially, Applied Computing is pitching speed: It claims Orbital can flag anomalies, investigate what caused them, and model whether a proposed fix could create problems elsewhere in the facility, all within minutes. Adamson claims the product can compress investigations that previously took days or weeks into seconds, helping operators reduce energy use and maintain output.
That promise of speed seems to have found believers. The startup says it has gone from stealth to double-digit millions in annual recurring revenue in under 18 months. Adamson said Orbital is in use at some “large, publicly listed” upstream oil and gas, downstream refining and petrochemicals companies, although he declined to mention how many customers it has.
Its partners include Indian energy company Wipro, and KBR, which has integrated Orbital into its INSITE 3.0 digital platform for energy projects, and is using the product for ammonia production. Adamson said the startup is also working with a “major U.S. upstream operator” and plans to announce a partnership with a European oil major in the coming weeks.
Still, Applied Computing is entering a market that has entrenched industrial software suppliers, as well as more focused AI startups. AspenTech sells simulation and AI-powered modeling software for upstream, refining, and chemical operations, while AVEVA offers physics-based process simulation, optimization, and “what-if” modeling for industrial plants. Cognite and Seeq target the data layer, helping facilities analyze industrial data, and apply AI to design workflows.
Adamson argues that the company’s moat is not access to industrial data or process knowledge, but rather assembling AI researchers to build a model that can compete with Orbital.
“It’s an AI problem. It’s not a data problem, and it’s not an energy problem,” he said. “If you’re a tier-one AI researcher, where are you going to work? … I don’t think Shell’s on that list.”
Adamson also pointed to the data Orbital receives through its deployments. Operational data from refineries and other energy facilities is generally not available publicly, he said, while simulated data cannot fully reproduce what happens inside a working plant.
The KBR partnership may help the company, too. Adamson said the partnership gives Applied Computing access to operational data and industry expertise, as well as introductions to more potential customers.
Applied Computing plans to use the $20 million to expand internationally, hire for research and engineering roles, and explore deployments with energy clients.
The company on Thursday said it’s also opened an office in Houston, adding to its headquarters in London and operational hub in Bengaluru. Adamson said the U.S. base puts the startup closer to two existing customers in North America, and an expansion into the Middle East is also in the works.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.
Applied Computing, a London-based startup that’s building a foundation AI model for the oil, gas, and petrochemical industry, has raised a $20 million Series A led by engineering giant KBR, with Databricks Ventures participating.
Founded in 2023, the startup targets oil, gas, refining, and petrochemical systems, where a single facility can have thousands of sensors measuring everything from temperature and pressure to velocity and viscosity. While there’s a huge market for helping energy companies solve the data-tracking problem, the fragmentation presents a significant hurdle.
Facilities consequently make operating decisions using less than 8% of the data available to them, says Applied Computing’s co-founder and CEO Callum Adamson (pictured above, right). Operators already collect much of this information, he said, but they struggle to combine the sensor readings, engineering documentation, and physics and chemistry quickly enough to analyze and make predictions.
“It’s getting those three data sources to talk to each other in real time. That’s the real key,” he told TechCrunch.
Unlike large language models, which predict the next word, Applied Computing says its foundation model, Orbital, combines a time series model, a physics-based model, and a language model to predict the state of a facility. It does this by analyzing sensor readings, keeping physics and chemistry in mind, and recognizing a facility’s equipment constraints and operator activity. It also allows technicians to run simulations of how a change in one part of a facility could affect the rest of its operations.
Image Credits:Applied Computing
Essentially, Applied Computing is pitching speed: It claims Orbital can flag anomalies, investigate what caused them, and model whether a proposed fix could create problems elsewhere in the facility, all within minutes. Adamson claims the product can compress investigations that previously took days or weeks into seconds, helping operators reduce energy use and maintain output.
That promise of speed seems to have found believers. The startup says it has gone from stealth to double-digit millions in annual recurring revenue in under 18 months. Adamson said Orbital is in use at some “large, publicly listed” upstream oil and gas, downstream refining and petrochemicals companies, although he declined to mention how many customers it has.
Its partners include Indian energy company Wipro, and KBR, which has integrated Orbital into its INSITE 3.0 digital platform for energy projects, and is using the product for ammonia production. Adamson said the startup is also working with a “major U.S. upstream operator” and plans to announce a partnership with a European oil major in the coming weeks.
Still, Applied Computing is entering a market that has entrenched industrial software suppliers, as well as more focused AI startups. AspenTech sells simulation and AI-powered modeling software for upstream, refining, and chemical operations, while AVEVA offers physics-based process simulation, optimization, and “what-if” modeling for industrial plants. Cognite and Seeq target the data layer, helping facilities analyze industrial data, and apply AI to design workflows.
Adamson argues that the company’s moat is not access to industrial data or process knowledge, but rather assembling AI researchers to build a model that can compete with Orbital.
“It’s an AI problem. It’s not a data problem, and it’s not an energy problem,” he said. “If you’re a tier-one AI researcher, where are you going to work? … I don’t think Shell’s on that list.”
Adamson also pointed to the data Orbital receives through its deployments. Operational data from refineries and other energy facilities is generally not available publicly, he said, while simulated data cannot fully reproduce what happens inside a working plant.
The KBR partnership may help the company, too. Adamson said the partnership gives Applied Computing access to operational data and industry expertise, as well as introductions to more potential customers.
Applied Computing plans to use the $20 million to expand internationally, hire for research and engineering roles, and explore deployments with energy clients.
The company on Thursday said it’s also opened an office in Houston, adding to its headquarters in London and operational hub in Bengaluru. Adamson said the U.S. base puts the startup closer to two existing customers in North America, and an expansion into the Middle East is also in the works.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.
A typical proposed rule from the OMB garners less than 100 public comments. This rule has netted over 500,000 comments, the large majority of which appear to be negative, including a response from respected nonprofit The Planetary Society, which has criticized everything from the proposal’s rules around publication to its move away from peer review to its chilling effect on scientists in every field.
“Nearly every proposed aspect of these rule changes has some deleterious or negative consequence for the practice of science,” Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at The Planetary Society, tells The Verge.
“There’s concrete harm, even if you’re not a scientist,” he points out. The biggest obstacle is the restrictions on the funding of open-access publication, which is the method through which space science papers are made freely available to the public.
“There’s concrete harm, even if you’re not a scientist.”
— Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at The Planetary Society
For more than a decade, NASA has prided itself on making public the data collected with NASA instruments, as well as the science papers that come from studying that data. The new changes reverse that trend, making science data more difficult for everyone to access. Forbidding the use of grant funding for open-access publication means it’ll be harder for the public to see the research that their tax money helped fund.
“There’s no really good argument for that, unless you’re trying to use it as a means of control over the scientists themselves,” Dreier says.
Then there’s the ability to terminate grants because of the associations or political leanings of the scientists themselves. Consider the data collected by the Mars rovers — precious data that cost billions of dollars and took decades of expertise to acquire — and a scientist, who doesn’t even work for NASA directly, who wants to study that data and has a novel idea for research that their fellow scientists think is worthwhile and important. Hypothetically, the new regulations would allow a partisan non-expert employed by the White House to nix that scientist’s funding because they posted an anti-Trump meme on X years ago.
It gets worse. “You don’t even have to be in violation of a rule” to have your funding cut, Dreier says. Grants can be revoked at any time, for any reason, if they are deemed against the interests of the president’s whims: “There’s a capriciousness that is enabled by these changes, and an opacity of the decision process.”
The problems with the regulations are not just ideological. They largely impose a bureaucratic burden: Is any scientist going to want to set up an international partnership, or attend a conference, or try to publish their data publicly and for free, when doing so requires time and paperwork applying for exemptions that may or may not be granted by a government body that has no expertise or interest in their work? Are they going to set up a potentially fruitful collaboration with other scientists in China, or Russia, or even Canada, when doing so introduces a risk to their own work, knowing their livelihood could be yanked away when the president decides he doesn’t like another nation tomorrow?
“There’s no really good argument for that, unless you’re trying to use it as a means of control over the scientists themselves.”
— Casey Dreier
This is a separate, though perhaps even more dangerous, attack on science than the proposed cuts to NASA funding that are affecting programs like the operation of the Mars rovers. Under the proposed OMB rules, the contracts through which NASA builds spacecraft and collects data would remain, but the grants for scientists to analyze that data would be under political threat.
“There’s a distinction between data collection and science,” Dreier says. Building amazing tools like the Mars rovers or the James Webb Space Telescope and using them to collect data is only the first step in making progress: “The science is what happens when you pay a scientist to sit down and look at the data, interpret it, model it, test it, and then present it and go through the process of arguing about it.”
“What are we collecting data for, if we’re not going to support the scientists to study it?”
Despite the significant public pushback against the move, including a Senate hearing with the director of the OMB, Russell Vought, in which Democratic senators described the effects of the rule as “absurdity” and “bias,” the OMB does not seem disposed to back down and withdraw its proposed rule. Instead, it will likely face a series of legal challenges, including from a group of 24 governors and attorneys general who argue that the rule is unconstitutional and a violation of the separation of powers.
What is at stake here is bigger than slashed funds or a temporary refocusing on Earthly concerns over space research. “This is not a budget cut,” Dreier points out. Budget cuts are easy to understand and easy to argue against. What is happening here is more pernicious: “This is a surgical, scalpel-like attack on the actual process of science that is buried under procedural rules and boring-sounding language.”
Update July 17th: The OMB proposal has received over 500,000 comments, not 50,000 as stated in a previous version of this story.
Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.
A typical proposed rule from the OMB garners less than 100 public comments. This rule has netted over 500,000 comments, the large majority of which appear to be negative, including a response from respected nonprofit The Planetary Society, which has criticized everything from the proposal’s rules around publication to its move away from peer review to its chilling effect on scientists in every field.
“Nearly every proposed aspect of these rule changes has some deleterious or negative consequence for the practice of science,” Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at The Planetary Society, tells The Verge.
“There’s concrete harm, even if you’re not a scientist,” he points out. The biggest obstacle is the restrictions on the funding of open-access publication, which is the method through which space science papers are made freely available to the public.
“There’s concrete harm, even if you’re not a scientist.”
— Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at The Planetary Society
For more than a decade, NASA has prided itself on making public the data collected with NASA instruments, as well as the science papers that come from studying that data. The new changes reverse that trend, making science data more difficult for everyone to access. Forbidding the use of grant funding for open-access publication means it’ll be harder for the public to see the research that their tax money helped fund.
“There’s no really good argument for that, unless you’re trying to use it as a means of control over the scientists themselves,” Dreier says.
Then there’s the ability to terminate grants because of the associations or political leanings of the scientists themselves. Consider the data collected by the Mars rovers — precious data that cost billions of dollars and took decades of expertise to acquire — and a scientist, who doesn’t even work for NASA directly, who wants to study that data and has a novel idea for research that their fellow scientists think is worthwhile and important. Hypothetically, the new regulations would allow a partisan non-expert employed by the White House to nix that scientist’s funding because they posted an anti-Trump meme on X years ago.
It gets worse. “You don’t even have to be in violation of a rule” to have your funding cut, Dreier says. Grants can be revoked at any time, for any reason, if they are deemed against the interests of the president’s whims: “There’s a capriciousness that is enabled by these changes, and an opacity of the decision process.”
The problems with the regulations are not just ideological. They largely impose a bureaucratic burden: Is any scientist going to want to set up an international partnership, or attend a conference, or try to publish their data publicly and for free, when doing so requires time and paperwork applying for exemptions that may or may not be granted by a government body that has no expertise or interest in their work? Are they going to set up a potentially fruitful collaboration with other scientists in China, or Russia, or even Canada, when doing so introduces a risk to their own work, knowing their livelihood could be yanked away when the president decides he doesn’t like another nation tomorrow?
“There’s no really good argument for that, unless you’re trying to use it as a means of control over the scientists themselves.”
— Casey Dreier
This is a separate, though perhaps even more dangerous, attack on science than the proposed cuts to NASA funding that are affecting programs like the operation of the Mars rovers. Under the proposed OMB rules, the contracts through which NASA builds spacecraft and collects data would remain, but the grants for scientists to analyze that data would be under political threat.
“There’s a distinction between data collection and science,” Dreier says. Building amazing tools like the Mars rovers or the James Webb Space Telescope and using them to collect data is only the first step in making progress: “The science is what happens when you pay a scientist to sit down and look at the data, interpret it, model it, test it, and then present it and go through the process of arguing about it.”
“What are we collecting data for, if we’re not going to support the scientists to study it?”
Despite the significant public pushback against the move, including a Senate hearing with the director of the OMB, Russell Vought, in which Democratic senators described the effects of the rule as “absurdity” and “bias,” the OMB does not seem disposed to back down and withdraw its proposed rule. Instead, it will likely face a series of legal challenges, including from a group of 24 governors and attorneys general who argue that the rule is unconstitutional and a violation of the separation of powers.
What is at stake here is bigger than slashed funds or a temporary refocusing on Earthly concerns over space research. “This is not a budget cut,” Dreier points out. Budget cuts are easy to understand and easy to argue against. What is happening here is more pernicious: “This is a surgical, scalpel-like attack on the actual process of science that is buried under procedural rules and boring-sounding language.”
Update July 17th: The OMB proposal has received over 500,000 comments, not 50,000 as stated in a previous version of this story.
Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.
Georgina Torbet
#war #woke #science #space #researchNews,Policy,Politics,Science,Space">The war on ‘woke science’ comes for space research
The Trump administration is waging a culture war on science, and the latest salvo is in the form of a dry, bureaucratic proposal from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that could threaten the future of US science as we know it.
A typical proposed rule from the OMB garners less than 100 public comments. This rule has netted over 500,000 comments, the large majority of which appear to be negative, including a response from respected nonprofit The Planetary Society, which has criticized everything from the proposal’s rules around publication to its move away from peer review to its chilling effect on scientists in every field.
“Nearly every proposed aspect of these rule changes has some deleterious or negative consequence for the practice of science,” Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at The Planetary Society, tells The Verge.
“There’s concrete harm, even if you’re not a scientist,” he points out. The biggest obstacle is the restrictions on the funding of open-access publication, which is the method through which space science papers are made freely available to the public.
“There’s concrete harm, even if you’re not a scientist.”
— Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at The Planetary Society
For more than a decade, NASA has prided itself on making public the data collected with NASA instruments, as well as the science papers that come from studying that data. The new changes reverse that trend, making science data more difficult for everyone to access. Forbidding the use of grant funding for open-access publication means it’ll be harder for the public to see the research that their tax money helped fund.
“There’s no really good argument for that, unless you’re trying to use it as a means of control over the scientists themselves,” Dreier says.
Then there’s the ability to terminate grants because of the associations or political leanings of the scientists themselves. Consider the data collected by the Mars rovers — precious data that cost billions of dollars and took decades of expertise to acquire — and a scientist, who doesn’t even work for NASA directly, who wants to study that data and has a novel idea for research that their fellow scientists think is worthwhile and important. Hypothetically, the new regulations would allow a partisan non-expert employed by the White House to nix that scientist’s funding because they posted an anti-Trump meme on X years ago.
It gets worse. “You don’t even have to be in violation of a rule” to have your funding cut, Dreier says. Grants can be revoked at any time, for any reason, if they are deemed against the interests of the president’s whims: “There’s a capriciousness that is enabled by these changes, and an opacity of the decision process.”
The problems with the regulations are not just ideological. They largely impose a bureaucratic burden: Is any scientist going to want to set up an international partnership, or attend a conference, or try to publish their data publicly and for free, when doing so requires time and paperwork applying for exemptions that may or may not be granted by a government body that has no expertise or interest in their work? Are they going to set up a potentially fruitful collaboration with other scientists in China, or Russia, or even Canada, when doing so introduces a risk to their own work, knowing their livelihood could be yanked away when the president decides he doesn’t like another nation tomorrow?
“There’s no really good argument for that, unless you’re trying to use it as a means of control over the scientists themselves.”
— Casey Dreier
This is a separate, though perhaps even more dangerous, attack on science than the proposed cuts to NASA funding that are affecting programs like the operation of the Mars rovers. Under the proposed OMB rules, the contracts through which NASA builds spacecraft and collects data would remain, but the grants for scientists to analyze that data would be under political threat.
“There’s a distinction between data collection and science,” Dreier says. Building amazing tools like the Mars rovers or the James Webb Space Telescope and using them to collect data is only the first step in making progress: “The science is what happens when you pay a scientist to sit down and look at the data, interpret it, model it, test it, and then present it and go through the process of arguing about it.”
“What are we collecting data for, if we’re not going to support the scientists to study it?”
Despite the significant public pushback against the move, including a Senate hearing with the director of the OMB, Russell Vought, in which Democratic senators described the effects of the rule as “absurdity” and “bias,” the OMB does not seem disposed to back down and withdraw its proposed rule. Instead, it will likely face a series of legal challenges, including from a group of 24 governors and attorneys general who argue that the rule is unconstitutional and a violation of the separation of powers.
What is at stake here is bigger than slashed funds or a temporary refocusing on Earthly concerns over space research. “This is not a budget cut,” Dreier points out. Budget cuts are easy to understand and easy to argue against. What is happening here is more pernicious: “This is a surgical, scalpel-like attack on the actual process of science that is buried under procedural rules and boring-sounding language.”
Update July 17th: The OMB proposal has received over 500,000 comments, not 50,000 as stated in a previous version of this story.
Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.
Mayor Lurie has asked state regulators to bolster rules for autonomous vehicles nearly two weeks after Waymo robotaxis became immobile in heavy July 4 traffic, ran out of power, and blocked key streets, further compounding the gridlock. The traffic jam, which trapped municipal shuttles, became a citywide problem that affected thousands of people.
In his letter to the state Department of Transportation, which was viewed by TechCrunch, Lurie pointed to two events — a widespread power outage in December and the Golden Gate Bridge fireworks show on July 4 that attracted 100,000 spectators — both of which led to dozens of stranded Waymo vehicles and paralyzed traffic. The San Francisco Chronicle first reported on the letter.
The events, he said in the letter, “demonstrated that California’s current regulatory framework does not adequately address how autonomous vehicles operate during major incidents, planned or not. California’s challenge now is not just whether autonomous vehicles can operate safely under normal conditions, but also whether they can perform reliably during extraordinary ones.”
Lurie said autonomous vehicle manufacturers should be able to demonstrate four “core operational capabilities” and asked the California Department of Transportation to establish statewide standards to prevent future problems like the July 4 gridlock incident.
Under Lurie’s vision, companies would be required to immediately remove or relocate robotaxis from active travel lanes to keep people moving and be required to be able to adapt in real time, adjusting their routes, service area, and pickup and drop-off locations. Companies would also have to share real-time operations data with local agencies, including service disruptions, the locations of immobile robotaxis, and recovery efforts as well as demonstrate through testing that they can handle large influxes of people and traffic.
TechCrunch has reached out to Waymo for comment. The article will be updated once the company responds.
Any company that wants to operate a robotaxi service in California has to successfully navigate two testing and deployment permit processes, one administered by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles and the other by the Public Utilities Commission. California’s existing regulatory framework is stricter than that of other states like Texas and Arizona, but that hasn’t dissuaded companies from trying to operate there.
San Francisco and the wider area that stretches south into Silicon Valley have long been a testbed for autonomous vehicle technology. Six companies, including Nuro, Waymo, and Zoox, hold driverless testing permits, which allow the vehicles to drive without a human safety operator behind the wheel.
But the area has also become the launch point for commercial services, which requires other permits from the DMV and CPUC.
Waymo is the largest, with an estimated 1,000 robotaxis operating in the Bay Area today. But there are plenty of others either testing or poised to launch commercial operations, including Amazon-owned Zoox as well as a premium robotaxi service that will be operated by Uber. Tesla has a branded robotaxi service but it doesn’t use driverless vehicles, nor does it have the permits to do so. Instead, Tesla has a charter transportation permit, which allows its own drivers to pick up and drop off riders throughout San Francisco in vehicles equipped with its advanced driver-assistance system rather than fully autonomous software.
Waymo’s scale has made it the focal point for regulators in San Francisco and beyond. The company now operates in 11 cities and has said it completes more than 500,000 paid rides every week. In San Francisco, Lurie noted that Waymo had agreed to restrict its service on July 4 near the waterfront and had even assigned a representative to the city’s emergency center. But that wasn’t enough to keep the Waymos out of the heavy traffic that occurred outside of that district.
Lurie said these voluntary actions are no longer enough — a reflection of just how big Waymo’s fleet has become. He said the four proposed requirements “will not undermine autonomous vehicles; they will strengthen them.”
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.
Mayor Lurie has asked state regulators to bolster rules for autonomous vehicles nearly two weeks after Waymo robotaxis became immobile in heavy July 4 traffic, ran out of power, and blocked key streets, further compounding the gridlock. The traffic jam, which trapped municipal shuttles, became a citywide problem that affected thousands of people.
In his letter to the state Department of Transportation, which was viewed by TechCrunch, Lurie pointed to two events — a widespread power outage in December and the Golden Gate Bridge fireworks show on July 4 that attracted 100,000 spectators — both of which led to dozens of stranded Waymo vehicles and paralyzed traffic. The San Francisco Chronicle first reported on the letter.
The events, he said in the letter, “demonstrated that California’s current regulatory framework does not adequately address how autonomous vehicles operate during major incidents, planned or not. California’s challenge now is not just whether autonomous vehicles can operate safely under normal conditions, but also whether they can perform reliably during extraordinary ones.”
Lurie said autonomous vehicle manufacturers should be able to demonstrate four “core operational capabilities” and asked the California Department of Transportation to establish statewide standards to prevent future problems like the July 4 gridlock incident.
Under Lurie’s vision, companies would be required to immediately remove or relocate robotaxis from active travel lanes to keep people moving and be required to be able to adapt in real time, adjusting their routes, service area, and pickup and drop-off locations. Companies would also have to share real-time operations data with local agencies, including service disruptions, the locations of immobile robotaxis, and recovery efforts as well as demonstrate through testing that they can handle large influxes of people and traffic.
TechCrunch has reached out to Waymo for comment. The article will be updated once the company responds.
Any company that wants to operate a robotaxi service in California has to successfully navigate two testing and deployment permit processes, one administered by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles and the other by the Public Utilities Commission. California’s existing regulatory framework is stricter than that of other states like Texas and Arizona, but that hasn’t dissuaded companies from trying to operate there.
San Francisco and the wider area that stretches south into Silicon Valley have long been a testbed for autonomous vehicle technology. Six companies, including Nuro, Waymo, and Zoox, hold driverless testing permits, which allow the vehicles to drive without a human safety operator behind the wheel.
But the area has also become the launch point for commercial services, which requires other permits from the DMV and CPUC.
Waymo is the largest, with an estimated 1,000 robotaxis operating in the Bay Area today. But there are plenty of others either testing or poised to launch commercial operations, including Amazon-owned Zoox as well as a premium robotaxi service that will be operated by Uber. Tesla has a branded robotaxi service but it doesn’t use driverless vehicles, nor does it have the permits to do so. Instead, Tesla has a charter transportation permit, which allows its own drivers to pick up and drop off riders throughout San Francisco in vehicles equipped with its advanced driver-assistance system rather than fully autonomous software.
Waymo’s scale has made it the focal point for regulators in San Francisco and beyond. The company now operates in 11 cities and has said it completes more than 500,000 paid rides every week. In San Francisco, Lurie noted that Waymo had agreed to restrict its service on July 4 near the waterfront and had even assigned a representative to the city’s emergency center. But that wasn’t enough to keep the Waymos out of the heavy traffic that occurred outside of that district.
Lurie said these voluntary actions are no longer enough — a reflection of just how big Waymo’s fleet has become. He said the four proposed requirements “will not undermine autonomous vehicles; they will strengthen them.”
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.
#San #Francisco #mayor #pushes #tougher #rules #Waymo #traffic #fiasco #TechCrunchrobotaxis,Waymo">San Francisco mayor pushes for tougher rules after the Waymo traffic fiasco | TechCrunch
It turns out that even San Francisco mayor Daniel Lurie, who once declared that the city should be a testbed for emerging tech, has his limits. Especially when that emerging tech creates a massive hours-long traffic jam that leaves thousands at a standstill.
Mayor Lurie has asked state regulators to bolster rules for autonomous vehicles nearly two weeks after Waymo robotaxis became immobile in heavy July 4 traffic, ran out of power, and blocked key streets, further compounding the gridlock. The traffic jam, which trapped municipal shuttles, became a citywide problem that affected thousands of people.
In his letter to the state Department of Transportation, which was viewed by TechCrunch, Lurie pointed to two events — a widespread power outage in December and the Golden Gate Bridge fireworks show on July 4 that attracted 100,000 spectators — both of which led to dozens of stranded Waymo vehicles and paralyzed traffic. The San Francisco Chronicle first reported on the letter.
The events, he said in the letter, “demonstrated that California’s current regulatory framework does not adequately address how autonomous vehicles operate during major incidents, planned or not. California’s challenge now is not just whether autonomous vehicles can operate safely under normal conditions, but also whether they can perform reliably during extraordinary ones.”
Lurie said autonomous vehicle manufacturers should be able to demonstrate four “core operational capabilities” and asked the California Department of Transportation to establish statewide standards to prevent future problems like the July 4 gridlock incident.
Under Lurie’s vision, companies would be required to immediately remove or relocate robotaxis from active travel lanes to keep people moving and be required to be able to adapt in real time, adjusting their routes, service area, and pickup and drop-off locations. Companies would also have to share real-time operations data with local agencies, including service disruptions, the locations of immobile robotaxis, and recovery efforts as well as demonstrate through testing that they can handle large influxes of people and traffic.
TechCrunch has reached out to Waymo for comment. The article will be updated once the company responds.
Any company that wants to operate a robotaxi service in California has to successfully navigate two testing and deployment permit processes, one administered by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles and the other by the Public Utilities Commission. California’s existing regulatory framework is stricter than that of other states like Texas and Arizona, but that hasn’t dissuaded companies from trying to operate there.
San Francisco and the wider area that stretches south into Silicon Valley have long been a testbed for autonomous vehicle technology. Six companies, including Nuro, Waymo, and Zoox, hold driverless testing permits, which allow the vehicles to drive without a human safety operator behind the wheel.
But the area has also become the launch point for commercial services, which requires other permits from the DMV and CPUC.
Waymo is the largest, with an estimated 1,000 robotaxis operating in the Bay Area today. But there are plenty of others either testing or poised to launch commercial operations, including Amazon-owned Zoox as well as a premium robotaxi service that will be operated by Uber. Tesla has a branded robotaxi service but it doesn’t use driverless vehicles, nor does it have the permits to do so. Instead, Tesla has a charter transportation permit, which allows its own drivers to pick up and drop off riders throughout San Francisco in vehicles equipped with its advanced driver-assistance system rather than fully autonomous software.
Waymo’s scale has made it the focal point for regulators in San Francisco and beyond. The company now operates in 11 cities and has said it completes more than 500,000 paid rides every week. In San Francisco, Lurie noted that Waymo had agreed to restrict its service on July 4 near the waterfront and had even assigned a representative to the city’s emergency center. But that wasn’t enough to keep the Waymos out of the heavy traffic that occurred outside of that district.
Lurie said these voluntary actions are no longer enough — a reflection of just how big Waymo’s fleet has become. He said the four proposed requirements “will not undermine autonomous vehicles; they will strengthen them.”
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newer iPads, it is not available on many older devices. However, you do have several options for checking your battery health. In this guide, we’ll explain how to check battery health on older iPads and share some useful tips to help extend battery life.
Which iPads Support Apple’s Built-in Battery Health Feature?
Apple provides a built-in Battery Health feature for selected iPad models. If your iPad supports it, you can view important battery information in the Settings app without installing any additional apps. This feature is available for iPad Pro M4, iPad Air M2, iPad mini (A17 Pro), iPad (A16), and newer iPads.
Go to Settings.
Tap Battery.
Open Battery Health.
View details such as Maximum Capacity, Cycle Count, Battery Status, Manufacturing Date, First Use Date, and the 80% Charging Limit.
If you have an old iPad, you won’t see the Battery Health option in the Settings menu. The reason behind this restriction remains unknown, as Apple has not disclosed it yet. The old operating system of these iPads does not even support the Battery Health menu.
How to Check Battery Health on Older iPads
Apple provides an online battery diagnostic process for iPads that do not have the Battery Health option. This is the proper way to diagnose your device’s battery without downloading any additional software. First, contact Apple Support and describe your battery problems, which may include rapid battery drain, slow charging, and automatic shutdowns of your iPad. Apple Support will conduct a remote battery diagnostic on your iPad. They will be able to tell you all the vital information regarding your battery.
Use coconutBattery on a Mac
Another way to check your iPad’s battery health is through coconutBattery. The app is available for macOS and supports Apple devices, including iPads.
It provides information on Battery Health, Current Capacity, Design Capacity, Charge Cycles, Battery Temperature, and Charging Status. Please note that some more advanced options will be available only in the paid version.
Tips to Keep Your Older iPad Battery Healthy
Ensure that you only use certified chargers: Your iPad should be charged by Apple-certified and MFi-certified chargers and cables.
Avoid using your iPad in extreme temperatures: it should not be exposed to direct sunlight or extremely high temperatures.
Keep your iPad software up to date: Update your device to the latest iPadOS.
Screen lock: Locking your iPad helps conserve battery power.
Airplane mode in areas with poor signal: If the signal strength is low, activate airplane mode to conserve battery.
Wi-Fi connection: Connect to Wi-Fi whenever it is possible.
Unplug unnecessary devices: Unplug any USB-C device that is no longer needed.
newer iPads, it is not available on many older devices. However, you do have several options for checking your battery health. In this guide, we’ll explain how to check battery health on older iPads and share some useful tips to help extend battery life.
Which iPads Support Apple’s Built-in Battery Health Feature?
Apple provides a built-in Battery Health feature for selected iPad models. If your iPad supports it, you can view important battery information in the Settings app without installing any additional apps. This feature is available for iPad Pro M4, iPad Air M2, iPad mini (A17 Pro), iPad (A16), and newer iPads.
Go to Settings.
Tap Battery.
Open Battery Health.
View details such as Maximum Capacity, Cycle Count, Battery Status, Manufacturing Date, First Use Date, and the 80% Charging Limit.
If you have an old iPad, you won’t see the Battery Health option in the Settings menu. The reason behind this restriction remains unknown, as Apple has not disclosed it yet. The old operating system of these iPads does not even support the Battery Health menu.
How to Check Battery Health on Older iPads
Apple provides an online battery diagnostic process for iPads that do not have the Battery Health option. This is the proper way to diagnose your device’s battery without downloading any additional software. First, contact Apple Support and describe your battery problems, which may include rapid battery drain, slow charging, and automatic shutdowns of your iPad. Apple Support will conduct a remote battery diagnostic on your iPad. They will be able to tell you all the vital information regarding your battery.
Use coconutBattery on a Mac
Another way to check your iPad’s battery health is through coconutBattery. The app is available for macOS and supports Apple devices, including iPads.
It provides information on Battery Health, Current Capacity, Design Capacity, Charge Cycles, Battery Temperature, and Charging Status. Please note that some more advanced options will be available only in the paid version.
Tips to Keep Your Older iPad Battery Healthy
Ensure that you only use certified chargers: Your iPad should be charged by Apple-certified and MFi-certified chargers and cables.
Avoid using your iPad in extreme temperatures: it should not be exposed to direct sunlight or extremely high temperatures.
Keep your iPad software up to date: Update your device to the latest iPadOS.
Screen lock: Locking your iPad helps conserve battery power.
Airplane mode in areas with poor signal: If the signal strength is low, activate airplane mode to conserve battery.
Wi-Fi connection: Connect to Wi-Fi whenever it is possible.
Unplug unnecessary devices: Unplug any USB-C device that is no longer needed.
#Apple #Doesnt #Show #Battery #Health #Older #iPadsHeres #Checkapple">Apple Doesn’t Show Battery Health on Older iPads—Here’s How to Check It Anyway
Checking your battery health will not only provide you with information about your iPad’s performance but also indicate whether you need to replace your device. Although Apple provides a built-in Battery Health feature on newer iPads, it is not available on many older devices. However, you do have several options for checking your battery health. In this guide, we’ll explain how to check battery health on older iPads and share some useful tips to help extend battery life.
Which iPads Support Apple’s Built-in Battery Health Feature?
Apple provides a built-in Battery Health feature for selected iPad models. If your iPad supports it, you can view important battery information in the Settings app without installing any additional apps. This feature is available for iPad Pro M4, iPad Air M2, iPad mini (A17 Pro), iPad (A16), and newer iPads.
Go to Settings.
Tap Battery.
Open Battery Health.
View details such as Maximum Capacity, Cycle Count, Battery Status, Manufacturing Date, First Use Date, and the 80% Charging Limit.
If you have an old iPad, you won’t see the Battery Health option in the Settings menu. The reason behind this restriction remains unknown, as Apple has not disclosed it yet. The old operating system of these iPads does not even support the Battery Health menu.
How to Check Battery Health on Older iPads
Apple provides an online battery diagnostic process for iPads that do not have the Battery Health option. This is the proper way to diagnose your device’s battery without downloading any additional software. First, contact Apple Support and describe your battery problems, which may include rapid battery drain, slow charging, and automatic shutdowns of your iPad. Apple Support will conduct a remote battery diagnostic on your iPad. They will be able to tell you all the vital information regarding your battery.
Use coconutBattery on a Mac
Another way to check your iPad’s battery health is through coconutBattery. The app is available for macOS and supports Apple devices, including iPads.
It provides information on Battery Health, Current Capacity, Design Capacity, Charge Cycles, Battery Temperature, and Charging Status. Please note that some more advanced options will be available only in the paid version.
Tips to Keep Your Older iPad Battery Healthy
Ensure that you only use certified chargers: Your iPad should be charged by Apple-certified and MFi-certified chargers and cables.
Avoid using your iPad in extreme temperatures: it should not be exposed to direct sunlight or extremely high temperatures.
Keep your iPad software up to date: Update your device to the latest iPadOS.
Screen lock: Locking your iPad helps conserve battery power.
Airplane mode in areas with poor signal: If the signal strength is low, activate airplane mode to conserve battery.
Wi-Fi connection: Connect to Wi-Fi whenever it is possible.
Unplug unnecessary devices: Unplug any USB-C device that is no longer needed.
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